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Homemade steel target...

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ScopedIn

ScopedIn

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Mar 4, 2018
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So I found a steel plate laying around. Nothing big, just 1/16" thick and 12"x13.5" wide. The .22 puts a real nice dent in the steel which keeps pellets from ricocheting off into other directions. Just a mild stainless steel is all it is. To make it a reactive target, since it's shiny, i used black spray paint as a base coat with five "green apple" spray paint dots. I used the top of a milk jug, cut off, to create the dots without getting paint everywhere else. You can see the dents where I recently shot it and had to hammer them out before repainting it for another round. Just an idea for anyone who doesn't want to pay for steel targets. Just make your own, be sure to use mild steel and go thicker for larger calibers.
22a2c5d779e24df41bc04065eefd9f1e.jpg

 
In general, steel that dimples is not good. What can, and often does happen, is that bullet or pellets will return back at the shooter when they hit a previous dimple. It is this reason that center-fire folks only recommend AR500 plate for steel targets. Mild steel is O.K. for most airguns, but it needs to be at least 1/8th inch thick. A case hardened face is better yet as it will not dimple.

I will admit that shooting steel has a lot of merit in that you don't have nearly the replacement cost. A quick spray of paint and you are back to shooting.

ETA: Steel, when it is hard enough not to dimple, will cause pellets to mostly shatter or flatten to a thin disk. These do not go off into unknown directions. It is the edge hits, or an angled shot that will cause a ricochet.
 
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@I_Like_Irons

I have found several, probably close to 50% of the pellets shot at this steel plate, on the ground flattened like coins from the impact. Finding them, at most, 5-6 feet from the target after hitting both flat and pre dimpled sections, I'm not worried about them ricocheting back at me. I shoot between 20-30 yards away right now, I've even stood only 10 feet away and shot the plate just to see if it could penetrate and i still wasnt hit by a ricochet, I found the flattened pellet only a few inches from the base of the plate which sits on the ground.

Also, it's just what I had laying around. I am currently out of work and so I dont have the money to buy targets, even the cheap paper one's which don't help with accuracy or sighting in a scope. Generally, I prefer to use the stick-on reactive paper targets when shooting, but again they cost money I don't currently have. I had the steel plate and plenty of spray paint laying around from previous projects last year when I still had my job. The steel was originally the base plate for a tire rim fire pit I had built.

Plus I don't mind the dimples, at any time they become more shallow than usual without taking longer range shots, I know something is wrong with my rifle. Same if the dimples become deeper or the round penetrates the steel. Though I'm not worried about over penetration as I have the plate propped against a 2x6 pine board against my shed door. I have shot the shed door directly just to be sure and it stops the round without so much as 1/8 inch penetration.
 
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Said flattened pellets from impacting steel. The reason I couldn't find all of them is due to high grass around the shed and I didn't check in a full 180 degree radius out to 6 feet. If I were to shoot BBs then I would worry about a possible ricochet. With pellets flattening like this every time they hit the steel and staying no more the rare 7-10 feet from the target(only found one at this distance by luck), I'm not worried about anything being hit. I'd rather my pellets not completely shatter because I like seeing and gauging the performance between other target mediums like wood and even water bottles. Plus, once cash had become available, I plan to get several pellet swages and molds to make my own. Saving spent lead will greatly help in casting my own as I don't have to go out and buy lead ingots to start with.

42a6198d868d340a4457555433aea59f.jpg
 
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Hard steel is best as stated. !0 yards is the minimum distance shooting at metal w/20fpe and under, this comes from having tissue paper ( think eye ball ) at the shooting station and what the shrapnel does at range, 9 yards is still too close. 
We do naturally tend to shoot what we have. Personallty I have made a good number of these FT target without spending any money, just poking around the Barn for sthuff.

http://www.airguns.net/ft_woodfieldtarget.php

John
 
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"texagdds"Forget i I said that. 45$ from steelplinkers.com with 1” or 3/4” kill zone.
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Its still cheaper to make your own. Plus you can make any size kill zone and paint it your preferred colors, or make it whatever color you have. Put designs on it even, I just use the mouth of a milk jug cut off below the handle so I have something to hold it steady when I spray paint inside. Use any bottle for sizing your target dots, just depends on how big or small you want them.
 
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